My current knowledge of vehicle tech and off roading are at a very beginner level, though I have been reading the Four-Wheeler's Bible. I want to take this slow as I'm not looking to jump into my newest most expensive hobby too fast. My questions are about how far can I take my stock Disco2 with only a few mods? I know tires are the best place to start, but then a snowball effect starts to happen. Ok, so I want bigger tires... It seems I should get a lift kit too? If I don't go with a body lift am I stuck with stock sized tires, should I deck out the bottom with skid plate protection? The stock clearance seems too small to really do much to begin with. I realize that the Four Wheelers Bible gives advice on this, but I'd like to hear from people that are doing this to their LR's specifically. It seems there are options for options and I want a few as possible for now.

thanx in advance,
-D2G

 

Where do you live, what sort of trails are in your area and what year is your truck?

 

Having recently gone through the same thing but spent more and made mistakes I can offer some advice. Of course it depends how seriously you want to offroad. My suggestions, in order would be:

1. Rovertym front bumper, steering guard, and Warn 9.5ti winch with synthetic line, with mounted recovery points.
2. Rovertym rear bumper with recovery points.
3. 3" Rovertym lift with Bilstein 7100s, castor corrected radius arms if needed.
4. Diff Armour
5. 16" rims with a real off-road tire, like say Interco Super Swamper SS Narrows.
6. Disconnects for front (and rear if you want to adapt some JKS quick disconnects) swaybars. The stock articulation is very poor and with the heavy weight of the vehicle you're not going far on 2 wheels.
7. ARB Lockers front and back. I went TT in front and regret it because I've had several ABS failures and without traction control the TT is not as useful. (Mike will disagree but this has been my experience so far as a new off-roader)

That would be my top 5 if I was starting again from scratch. The major issues with the disco in my opinion are the poor approach/departure angle which is helped considerably with good steel front and rear bumpers, too heavy which is helped by fitting big tires for off-road, I'm going to have an off-road only set or I won't keep up with the other people here in the local club for sure. The bumpers and lift will make a lot more room for tyres.

Anyway that's what I'd do if I was starting over. That or buy an Ibex.

 

There is several grades of offroading...

Some people like to take the extreme stuff on with their vehciles and you do need better supsension and tires. You are not going bouldering in one of these right off the bat. To do this you need to lift the vehicle and add better brakes, lockers and have a deep pocket book. But there is the other side of offroading which I do with mine. Though I am going to put a little lift and new bumpers on mine. Just waiting till the company car gets in then I am going to have fun with this thing.

I dont always try to go over something...I will go around it or if need be not center the vehicle and use the tires to take some of the impact of a rock. I have put some vehicles in places that people thought where nuts. The last time I was out I was out on four wheeler trails and didnt notice. The tight turns arent a problem for a land rover. What I suggest is take it out and drive over something that you are iffy about. Have someone spot you to make sure the rock or log isnt going to catch or hit the bottom of the vehicle. Then when you are over it and centered stop and get out and go look for yourself. You learn by doing and praticing...or that is how I was taught.

 

Find a Land Rover club and join, then see what you need or want.

 

I agree, this is the best way to see what a Rover will do and you will lean from watching and doing.

 

The first step is to ditch those side steps and possibly that brush bar. The side steps will get murdered and reduce your already low clearance. The brush bar will take a corner hit and deliver a nice smack to the entire front of your rig. Both are designed for the mall.

I disagree with needing a steel front bumper and winch right away. The winch will just get you INTO trouble until you know how to properly off road. If you just get a 2-3 inch lift from either Old Man Emu or Rovertyme ($900 installed) you should be able to shoe up 31" tires ($900 installed) and those two things alone will help tremendously. That combo alone allowed me to navigate level 2.5 to 3.0 trails for short stretches. Most people stop there and do fine. If you start venturing into more rugged rock crawling trails you'll probably need to either trim your front bumper or THEN replace it with a steel bumper. At about that time, rock sliders will be nice to have. Rock sliders make for a handy jack point if nothing else. By this time, recovery points might be handy if you go out with amigos or need to hand winch yourself out of the trouble you got yourself into. The verdict is out on armour for some off roaders. It definately makes your already heavy rig heavier. Some armour is a good idea. Most can be avoided with savvy driving skill. The type of trails you tackle usually determines the armour needs.

When you get really into it you can get a winch, lockers and get more aggressive with things like the rear bumper, etc.

By the way, you can't put a body lift on a DiscoII. I suppose you could, but no one does. And you really do need 16" wheels which it appears you have.

As is, your Rover probably won't do much better than a Kia Sorento off road. Ditch those steps, add $1500 worth of lift and tires and you'll tackle some pretty aggressive stuff.

 

The joining a local club (doesn't need to be a rover, just offroading) is probably the best advice. You'll see what the local trails are like. I know that all three trails I've done here with the local club were more than my rig could handle as setup at the time but the combination of experience and trail damage really helps you make decisions on what to upgrade next. Some areas just don't have class 1-2 trails (they're fairly boring anyway imho.)

 

Wow, thanks for all the info. I am in the SF Bay Area and have looked into a few clubs around here. It looks like there are a lot of Jeep specific/oriented clubsaround here, but I have come across one or two LR clubs which is more of what I'd like to join. At the most I'm looking at doing level 2 trails when I have the equip. This is the only vehicle in the house and my 5'1" g/f won't be too happy if I drop the side rails and add a couple inches of lift. We'll see. I do have the 16" wheels which sounds like they have more options for bigger tires. How useful or what weight rating is the stock attach point on the LR now? Anyone know of some offroad shops in the Bay Area that I can go to to talk some shop about options/installations and stuff like that?

-D2G

 

From what I hear, Cerrone's European has a great place. The owner started another forum, and they all seem like a tight knit group that welcomes new comers. I am sure Mike will chime in, he knows them....